The Promise
by truetabularasa
Summary: When the Doctor goes missing and the universe needs him, old companions will have to team together to save the world


**Disclaimer: Doctor Who is not mine.  
I started this _ages _ago, and only recently found it again.**

* * *

Rose double-checked herself in the full length mirror. She was dressed for the late nineteenth century. She smoothed her hands self-consciously down the bodice of the black material – her waist was made narrower with the help of an uncomfortably tight corset. Her shoes weren't the most comfortable in the world, but they would do. Better than the shoes she had worn in 1953, at any rate. Her hair (darker and longer than it had been two years ago) was done up so that she looked like a woman of some class.

Satisfied with her outward appearance, Rose took a deep breath and turned away from the mirror. A pouch lay on the table just behind her. In it rested several things of importance: her mobile (set on silent), a vortex manipulator, currency for the proper time period (located from beneath the Doctor's bed, of all places), her Tardis key, and a knife. Just in case.

Rose stuffed the pouch down the front of her dress; no being, human or otherwise, would dare to search in there. Feeling prepared to do what she had to do, Rose made her way slowly down the steps of the Tardis wardrobe and into the control room. Standing beside the dark console was another woman, dressed very much the same as Rose. No words were said as they both stood awkwardly, waiting for some sort of sign to tell them what to do next.

"Remember," Rose said at last, "we don't know each other at all. If things go wrong, then we head for the Tardis."

Her companion nodded. "After you," Martha Jones said, gesturing to the doors. Rose grimaced at her friend before leaving through the Tardis doors. Martha followed and locked the doors behind her.

"It was nice knowing you, Martha Jones," Rose grinned, attempting to add some sort of joking atmosphere to lighten the tension.

"Same to you, Rose Tyler," Martha reciprocated. The two women embraced each other before turning in opposite directions; it wouldn't do if they were seen arriving together. If something happened to one of them, then the other had to continue the fight – that plan wouldn't work if they were known collaborators.

Taking a steadying breath, Rose stepped into the openness of the small yet wealthy village. She looked to the mournful grey sky; it was closing in on November. Rose approached the inn that she would be staying at: The Heavenly Hotel. She approached the innkeeper and said, "Hello. My name's Rose Tyler. I was wondering if I might inquire after a room."

The tone she adopted was commanding. "Certainly, Miss," the innkeeper said. "On your own?" he asked, lowering his glasses slightly.

"That's right," Rose answered, her tone daring him to ask further.

"Master Getsby will show you to your room," he said, indicating a young man about Rose's age whom she hadn't noticed before.

"Right this way, Miss," Getsby said, taking a key off of a hook on the wall and leading Rose upstairs to a small, one bed room. "Should you be requiring anything, Miss?" Getsby asked as Rose inspected the room.

"Not right now, thank you," Rose told him, sitting herself down on the edge of the bed as Getsby left the room. Rose shut her eyes against the sudden onslaught of emotions that threatened to overwhelm her. Two years on a parallel world. Two bloody years. When she had returned, she had thought that all she would have to do was wait for the Doctor to return to Cardiff and refuel. Such was not the case. Instead, she was forced to play dress-up in the nineteenth century. Somebody in the world had to be the Doctor, and it was left up to Rose Tyler and Martha Jones to undertake that role, because the Doctor, the last of the Time Lords, and the defender of the universe, was missing.

* * *

Martha had first noticed that the Doctor was missing. She had given him her phone, and he had promised to always answer. After her last call, she had left several messages, and he never answered one. That wasn't like him. Sure, he used to leave his old companions behind and never speak of them, but that changed when he met Rose Tyler. When Martha had been visiting Jack in Cardiff, they had sensed a disturbance, and Jack, Martha, and Gwen had gone to check it out. A blonde woman had been found standing underneath the Rift, looking very worried. Jack, of course, had recognised her, and Martha had felt as though her world was collapsing, because Rose Tyler, the girl whose shadow she had been forced to live in, was back.

Now, however, Martha's once unseen enemy was her best friend, because the Doctor was missing, and only Rose Marion Tyler could save him.


End file.
